Economists and law professionals seek to find a method to understand the exact value of goods or services. Economics works with complex mathematical formulas to calculate the value. In law, we try to use the analogy with leading cases to achieve the same outcome.
What none of the methods has been able to establish exactly is the value of the feeling of a fan or an enthusiast. Despite the difficulties that this task involves, technology has been addressing this issue, even if imperfectly.
In the era of the dissemination of blockchain, it is possible not only to measure fans´feelings, but also to market them in the form of Tokens. This innovation has been called fan token, which mean several things. Fan tokens are blockchain based digital assets that are usually traded in economic segments bustling with feelings linked to fans – the passion for a team, the desire for victory etc.
Big football, basketball and motorsport teams have already issued their own fan tokens to raise funds and create engagement between the brand and their fans and enthusiasts.
Two types of fan tokens are very common in the market and, so far, the Brazilian legal scenario has been very receptive to this innovation.
The first of fan tokens resembles a kind of partner-supporter portfolio, very similar to the socio-supporter programs widespread in the country in the last decade. This type of fan token is a kind of utility token and has no specific regulation. Its name derives precisely from the "utilities" conferred on the owner of the asset.
Through the acquisition of fan tokens, a person may receive specific benefits, proportional to the amount of tokens. One type of benefit may be, for example, the right to vote on issues of "low governance" of the team, such as the choice of the color of the uniform of the team or the mascot. Another common benefit is the right of access to preferred seats in matches played by the team or, also, the right to discounts on products and services offered by the brand.
A second type of fan token, less known, but no less interesting, is the so-called solidary tokens. These assets confer future rights to their owners in the event a team “sells” a particular player.
Generally, the team that markets the players rights receives a percentage of the transfer amount based on an arrangement called "solidarity mechanism". The team can take advantage of this benefit and issue and market fan tokens which, at a future and uncertain date, will give their purchasers the right to receive a portion of the receivables. The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) analyzed the specific case of Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama. CVM has understood that fan tokens like this (solidary tokens) shall not be deemed securites – and are therefore not under their regulatory perimeter.
There is a growing possibility that other types of tokens that attribute different benefits to their purchasers be issued and traded in the future. The evolution of this market is growing at a fast pace. From the legal perspective, it is necessary to follow the complex – and creative – legal arrangements that involve the commercialization new type of asset.
